Stop Price Gouging in Grocery Stores Act of 2026

This bill prohibits retail food stores from price gouging and using surveillance-based price setting, requires disclosure of facial recognition technology use, bans electronic shelf labels in large stores, and establishes enforcement mechanisms. Sec. 2, Prohibition on price gouging: Operators of retail food stores cannot sell items at a grossly excessive price, but have an affirmative defense if the price increase is directly due to costs outside their control. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) must issue regulations within 180 days defining key terms, including that a grossly excessive price may be 120% or more of the average price in the market over the prior six months. Sec. 3, Prohibition on surveillance-based price setting: Retail food stores cannot adjust prices based on a consumer's personal information, including via facial recognition or electronic shelf labels, with exceptions for reasonable cost differences, group discounts (e.g., for seniors or students), and voluntary biometric identity verification under strict conditions. Sec. 4, Required disclosure of use of facial recognition technology: Stores using facial recognition must post clear signage at the main entrance explaining the use and purpose; this does not apply to online entities. Sec. 5, Prohibition on electronic shelf labels: Stores larger than 10,000 square feet cannot use electronic shelf labels or digital price displays and must use non-digital price presentations, such as shelf tags or stickers; this does not apply to online entities. Sec. 6, Enforcement: Violations are treated as unfair or deceptive acts under the FTC Act, with FTC enforcement. State attorneys general can sue for injunctions, damages (at least $3,000 per violation), and other relief. Consumers can also sue for damages (at least $3,000 per violation, tripled for willful violations), attorney's fees, and injunctions, with a 5-year statute of limitations and invalidation of pre-dispute arbitration agreements. Sec. 7, Preemption of directly conflicting state laws: The bill does not preempt state laws unless they directly conflict, and state laws providing additional consumer protections are not considered conflicting. Sec. 8, Authorization of appropriations: $5,000,000 is authorized for fiscal year 2026, available until September 30, 2032, to carry out the Act. Sec. 9, Definitions: Defines key terms including biometric data, electronic shelf label, facial recognition technology, personal information (broadly covering traits, identifiers, commercial data, and more), retail food store (as in the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008), and surveillance-based price setting.